We flew from Dubai directly into Amman with Emirates. If you were to look at the ‘flight path’ app on your entertainment screen and see the countries you’re surrounded by (Syria, Iraq & Saudi Arabia), you may feel a little apprehensive about travel in Jordan! But don’t stress, Jordan is a captivating country with so many incredible sites and home to the most beautiful people.

It didn’t take long at all for myself and my husband, Lawrence, to fall in love with Jordan – The food, the sites, the culture, and most of all the kindest people! So I would defiantly recommend travel in Jordan to anyone.

Below, in no particular order, I’ve listed the 5 places you can’t miss when you travel to Jordan.

#1 Amman

Amman is the capital city of Jordan so most likely this is where you’ll first arrive. I suggest giving yourself a full day or two to explore the city.

Two places I highly recommend visiting are;

The Citadel:

Perched on top of a hill, this will give you a great view of the city. Hire a local guide to take you around and explain the site’s history. Excavation work there has revealed a number of Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic remains.

The Roman Theatre:

Dating back to Roman times and located right in the heart of the city. You’d need about an hour to wander around the whole site. There is the option to hire a guide here as well. You’re able to walk right up to the top and take in the view & plenty of photo opportunities.

When you travel to Jordan I think the food is always going to be a highlight, and we found the best restaurants on Rainbow St! It’s a lively, clean, & safe area. All the food we ate in Amman was incredible but the two restaurants we loved the most were on Rainbow St, Nabteh o Fatteh, and Sufra. The food was to die for and was very reasonably priced. There was so much lamb, falafel’s, hummus, salads & Manakish (Arabic pizza).

And a hot tip; if you go to Sufra, order the Kofta Bi Tahini (a base layer of ground lamb, covered in potato & creamy tahini sauce). Delicious.

Amman isn’t one of the most beautiful cities in the world but it has a charm of its own, we found everyone to be very kind and extremely helpful. I dressed modestly but everyone seemed to be very much ‘each to their own’, no one seemed too bothered about what others were doing. Some local women were very covered up, some not so much, I personally always felt very comfortable.

#2 Petra 

You couldn’t possibly travel to Jordan and not visit Petra. Whether you want to see one of the filming locations of Indiana Jones or learn about the Nabataeans, it’s easy to see why Petra is listed as one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The Petra visitors center is located in the center of town and this will be your starting point. From there you can walk or take a horseback ride to the beginning of the Siq (if you take a horse ride, the handlers will expect a tip). Definitely get yourself a local guide to show you around, they’ll be there to share with you the incredible history & point out things you may not have noticed otherwise. We had a guide for nearly three hours.

The Treasury:

The first main site you’ll come across is The Treasury, I was so excited and not in the slightest bit disappointed. Petra, the capital of the Nabataean Empire, has been around since 1st century BC, and still to this day the Treasury is mind-blowing. The detail and beauty of it are incredible and possibly one of the best man-made things I’ve ever seen.

Seeing the Treasury up close was one of those incredible moments when you’ll think to yourself “this is why I travel”.

The city of Petra is massive and it’s not possible to walk around the whole city in a day. I really recommend making the trek up to The Monastery though.

It was a long, hot walk up about 800 steps but well worth it. You can hire a donkey to take you up but I wouldn’t recommend it. Many Bedouin people make a living out of this so I don’t want to be unsupportive but basically, I felt sorry for the donkey, the poor animals really seemed to be struggling. Once you’re up the top take your time exploring the area & take as many photos of the monastery as you want because I guarantee you won’t want to walk back up again. There is also a café and toilets up there. 

After about 8 hours of exploring the red–rose city we were absolutely exhausted, I could hardly feel my legs. Definitely wear comfortable shoes today, I promise you’ll regret it if you don’t.  

Petra By Night: 

In the end, we decided to get tickets to Petra By Night. Although the walk back there wasn’t at all appealing, we couldn’t go past seeing the treasury one more time. Petra By Night runs 3 times a week and the show goes for approximately 2 hours. Once you’ve walked through the candlelit Siq, everyone will take a seat in front of The Treasury for a performance of traditional Jordanian music and a story about Petra and the Nabataeans. Seeing The Treasury lit up by hundreds of candles was gorgeous, I don’t know when I’ll be traveling to Jordan again so I was happy taking in every opportunity Petra had to offer.  If you choose to go, take a jacket, it got pretty cold after dark. 

#3 Dead Sea

The Dead Sea is landlocked between Jordan & Israel and is the lowest body of water on earth. And, it’s so salty no marine animals can live in there.

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about our time at the Dead Sea, is how fun it was. Lawrence & I spent hours in the water laughing and having the best time. Before we got there I thought, “yeah it’ll be cool being able to completely float”,  but it was the most bazaar feeling. It was deep so we couldn’t touch the bottom and we were bobbing around like a couple of champagne corks. We’d sit as if we were on a bike and see how long we could ride before we’d topple over. 😆

Whatever you do though, do not let the water touch your lips or your eyes! It really stings and if you happen to have cuts on your body, I wouldn’t even consider going in the water. It’ll literally be like rubbing salt in your wounds.

The water is also rich in minerals so it’s great for your skin. Be sure to get some mud from the shoreline and cover your whole body, bake in the sun until it dries, then get back in the water to remove the mud and your skin will love you for it.

We stayed at the Dead Sea Spa Hotel for one night. It was a beautiful hotel and the whole stay we felt very relaxed. There are plenty of swimming pools if you wanted a rest from the saltiness. Also, it was very much a “family resort”, but there’s an adults-only pool.

One night at the Dead Sea was long enough, apart from the sea and resort there’s really nothing else around.

#4 Wadi Rum

When we first drove into Wadi Rum it felt like we were on a massive film-set, (in a way we were as heaps of big-budget movies have used Wadi Rum as a filming location, a few you may have heard of are Lawrence of Arabia, The Martian  & Transformers) you’re in the middle of a golden-colored desert surrounded by giant rock formations. Then pops up an oasis, a fully equipped desert camp. We spent one night at SunCity Camp, our tent was awesome, queen-sized bed and a large bathroom. The only thing it didn’t have was air conditioning and it got very hot during the day. Although there was no reason to stay in the tent during the day. The main dining area had plenty of seating, fans & cold drinks.

Once we were checked-in to our tent, it wasn’t long before we were picked up for our (pre-organized) Jeep Tour.

This was a lot of fun and the best way to explore Wadi Rum. Our driver was also our guide; he was born and bred in the area so he knew the desert like the back of his hand.

We were sitting in the tray of the Jeep, it was just us on the tour so whenever we wanted him to stop he told us to give the roof a bang. But he was great at stopping at all the most picturesque places. The tour ended at sunset, we were sitting high up on a rock with the most incredible view, next to a campfire, enjoying a cup of traditional Bedouin tea. One of those moments where you take the time to embrace the wonders of living. 

Afterward it was back to camp for Jordanian entertainment and a buffet dinner.

#5 Aqaba

Now we didn’t stay in Aqaba, this was just a side trip we did. We went down there purely to snorkel in the Red Sea. When I do travel to Jordan again I would definitely make more time to spend down there. From what I saw it was a laid-back, seaside town with plenty of hotels and restaurants. We did grab some lunch while we were there, just from a takeaway stand. For around $1.50 we got a falafel sandwich and a drink and it was absolutely delicious. 

The Red Sea:

We booked a boat and a guide to take us out for a 2-hour snorkeling trip. If we had longer I would have been happy to spend all day out there. The water was warm, clean, crystal clear, and full of amazing fish and colorful coral. It was just so cool being in the red sea and awesome being able to look across the sea to Israel & Egypt.

Planning a Trip to Jordan

All of our transfers, tour guides, and accommodation were booked through Jordan Direct Tours! If you’re looking to travel to Jordan I highly recommend this company.

Ashleigh was always quick to reply to my emails and worked with me to book the places we wanted to visit and within our budget. 

The day it was time for us to fly out of Jordan I was honestly so sad, I loved every second we spent there. We have nothing but good things to say about this amazing country, the kindness of your local people, your wondrous sites, and your mouth-watering food. Jordan we will be back!

Who else has been to Jordan? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

From many countries around the world when you travel to Jordan the perfect stopover will be the United Arab Emirates. I’ve been to Dubai a couple of times so if you’d like to read my Dubai Travel Guide just click here!

Thanks for reading, 

Happy Travels.